Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced on Thursday that it had dismantled a significant international human smuggling ring. This operation follows an extensive investigation initiated in 2022 by the Cornwall Regional Task Force. The group was discovered to have been smuggling immigrants across the sparsely patrolled border along the St. Lawrence River into the United States. The RCMP alleges that between July 2022 and June 2023, the smuggling ring facilitated the illegal crossing of hundreds of migrants, often under perilous nighttime conditions, leading to fatalities during some crossings. According to RCMP investigator Etienne Thauvette, those being smuggled were usually taken to a nearby hotel or residence before being transported to the river’s edge and directed onto waiting boats, under various weather conditions, highlighting the blatant disregard for their safety.
The RCMP has charged eight individuals from Ontario and Quebec in connection with this smuggling ring, including two members of the Indigenous border community of Akwesasne. Notably, Akwesasne is the same area where two families drowned last year while attempting to cross into the U.S., including a family of four Indians and a family of four Romanians, as reported by CBC.
Border smuggling activities in this sector have seen a dramatic increase. Data from the U.S. Border Patrol indicates that from 2022 to 2023, the Swanton sector, which includes the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, apprehended 6,925 would-be migrants from 79 countries. This represents a 550 percent year-on-year increase, as detailed in a recent Twitter post by U.S. Border Patrol.
For further details, please refer to the original article on JURIST.